I t's called "marathoning" -- the practice of watching an entire television series start to finish, over a weekend, perhaps, sometimes with food and drink appropriate to the theme, on DVD. So this weekend, curl up with a fellow fan and commit to back-to-back episodes around the clock; set your own marathon pace.
"Saturday Night Live," The Complete First Season
Imagine a time when "Saturday Night Live" was actually funny -- and totally novel.
The first season -- all 24 episodes from 1975 when John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman and Garret Morris debuted as the Not Ready for Primetime Players -- is available on DVD as an eight-disc set. With hosts including Richard Pryor and George Carlin. ($69.
98)
"Six Feet Under," The Complete Series
Dearly beloved, the grass-topped set of "Six Feet Under": The Complete Series" represents the season's best-conceived DVD set packaging. The 63 episodes inside aren't bad, either, thanks to creator Alan Ball and a fine cast including Peter Krause and Rachel Griffiths. The finale is arguably the best in recent TV history.
In addition to commentaries and features, the set includes two soundtracks full of pleasing oddities. ($279.99)
"M*A*S*H," The Martinis Medicine Collection
Only the greatest anti-war treatise in pop culture history, this 36-disc "M*A*S*H" collection offers more than the TV classic.
Additionally, the late Robert Altman's 1970 movie is part of the deal, along with features and an unproduced episode script. ($199.98)
"Homicide: Life on the Street," Complete Series Megaset
Andre Braugher and creator David Simon have gone on to possibly greater glory, but "Homicide: Life on the Street" remains their original, much lauded network TV classic.
The 122 episodes are packaged with three "Law Order" crossover episodes, plus the "Homicide" movie. ($299.95)
"The West Wing," Complete Series Collection"
"The West Wing" box set reveals screenwriter Aaron Sorkin at his most brilliant and, later, at his most frustrating.
From 1999-2006, the series held hardcore fans rapt, although complaints about the weak 2003 season were spot on. With the usual features. ($299.
98)
"Alias," The Complete Collection
This set, which covers all five seasons, comes with a hardbound book purporting to make sense of the convoluted spy series. Jennifer Garner and her wigs are fun to watch, even if we're confused about the plots. A secret compartment in the Rambaldi box offers an extra disc.
($199.99)
"Edward R. Murrow" The Best of Person to Person
This set recalling the legendary newsman, hosted by CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer, features interviews with President John F.
Kennedy, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Liberace. The three-disc set is not as profound as last year's "The Edward R. Murrow Collection," a four-disc set including live broadcasts from the London Blitz, the best of "See It Now," his challenge of Sen.
Joseph McCarthy, his debunking of the Red Scare and the landmark 1960 "Harvest of Shame." ($39.98)
"Deadwood," The Complete Seasons 1 2
Viewers are immersed in the literally dirty and foul-mouthed world of the Dakota Territory in 1876 in this DVD set.
"Deadwood" didn't last long on HBO, but fans know those were a rich and glorious couple of seasons. The series comes in a six-disc set. Additionally, a nicely illustrated hardback book, "Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills" (Bloomsbury), by series creator David Milch, offers discussions of the show's themes -- profanity, whiskey and sex -- and actors' views of their characters.
(DVDs, $199.92; hardcover book, $29.95)
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